A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/663490
o ZHU - Resuming GIM - S i mplementation testing on site. IOC tentative in June timeframe. • MEARTS Fusion: o Eric Labardini participated in a MEARTS 3nm Fusion TIM March 29 - 31 . The team reviewed analysis of simulated, flight test, and target of opportunity data. o As expected, Fusion does not perform well with only long - range radar inputs. ADS - B and/or ASR inputs significantl y i mprove tracker performance. As we have with STARS/CARTS sites, MEARTS sites will be expected to develop contingency plans for use during radar outages. o As ADS - B equipage grows, those contingency plans would be used less and less. o During the TIM, MEARTS SLE presented information on Call Sign Mismatch (CSMM) events at ZAN. CSMM is presented when the call sign broadcast by ADS - B does not match the call sign filed in the flight plan. In 45 days, the facility controllers acknowledged over 2000 CSMM a lerts or 47 per day on average. This is a significant operational impact and NATCA has forwarded the info to Flight Standards. As ADS - B alerts are an assumption in developing future ADS - B applications and necessary to avoid operational impact, SBS does intend to have these alerts present in all automation platforms. Without user compliance and education, the reverse is more likely that ADS - B alerts will be disabled on all platforms as the nuisance outweighs any other issues. o MEARTS is also experiencing a number o f fals e conflict alert issues. However, analysis shows that these are mor e related to radar than ADS - B. Overall, the radar systems used in Alaska are causing MEARTS to split tracks and self - conflict alert. • Space Based ADS - B: o The Agency continues to pursue a two - phased approach to the use of Space Based ADS - B. The first phase is the Ingest & Process phase with the Agency stating that it would only be situational awareness and conformance monitoring but not for separation. o The problem that NATCA has pointed out is the fact that introducing SBA into the Conformance Monitor may lead to frequent status messages overloading Sector Que as well as invalidating est ablished non - radar separation. The de facto result of such an implementation is that it does involve separ ation. o AJV - 8 had stated that controllers are going to be required to respond to SBA alerts indicating a loss of non - radar separation. The two - phased Agency approach appears to have muddied the waters. o The network of satellites is expected to be available f or operational use by early FY 2 018. However, Agency plan for Phase 1, Ingest & Process, call for a Final Investment Decision in mid - FY 2016, but this may be delayed. Phase 2, Reduced Oceanic Separation, first has to select from alternatives before it can e ven be established that SBA will be the method to achieve ROS. A Final Investment Decision on ROS is not expected until mid - FY2018 with an operational start late calendar year 2020. At this rate, the U . S . will fall well behind other ANSPs that are pursuing other forms of reduced oceanic separation, already via SBA , in a much faster